Gagaku is a style of music I have yet to study extensively, but was fortunate enough to learn the basics of while at Osaka geidai.  I find it’s ethereal sound fascinating.  If there was ever a music that sounded like it was truly representative of something eternal, this is it.  (for me)

I was lucky in 2004 and managed to catch the performance of the Shoryo-e Ceremony at Shitennoji Temple.
Here it is.

I was a little down that day because I realized this performance was for dance, which meant that there were no string instruments.  The whole reason I had come to Osaka was to learn about the Koto, so I was looking forward to hearing the old Koto.  Nonetheless, it was mesmerizing.

Check out the history of this old music.

History of gagaku (edited from Wikipedia)

By the 7th century, the gakuso (a zither also known as KOTO) and the gakubiwa (a short-necked lute which has it’s roots in the middle east) had been introduced in Japan from China. Various instruments including these two were the earliest used to play gagaku.

Gagaku, the oldest classical music in Japan, was introduced into Japan with Buddhism from the Korean Peninsula around 529.

Komagaku (music originating from Korea that uses no plucked string instruments, only winds and percussion) and togaku (literally “Tang Dynasty music”) arrived in Japan during the Nara period (710-794). Gagaku performances were played by musicians who belonged to hereditary guilds. During the Kamakura period (1185-1333), military rule was imposed and gagaku was performed in the homes of the aristocracy, but rarely at court. At this time, there were three guilds based in Osaka, Nara and Kyoto.

Because of the Ōnin War,  from 1467 to 1477, gagaku in ensemble had been stopped for about 100 years. In the Edo era (1603 to 1868), the Tokugawa government re-organized the court style ensemble, which is the direct roots of the present one.

After the Meiji Restoration of 1868, musicians from all three guilds came to the capital and their descendants make up most of the current Tokyo Imperial Palace Music Department. By that time, the present ensemble composition had been established, which consists of three wind instruments – hichiriki, ryūteki, and shō (bamboo mouth organ used to provide harmony) – and three percussion instruments – kakko (small drum), shoko (metal percussion), and taiko (drum) or dadaiko (large drum), supplemented by gakubiwa.

Gagaku also accompanies classical dance performances (called bugaku 舞楽), and both are used in religious ceremonies by the Tenrikyo movement and a few Buddhist temples.

Gagaku is related to theater, which developed in parallel. Noh was developed in the 14th century.

Today, gagaku is performed in two ways:

* as kangen, concert music for winds, strings and percussion,
* as bugaku, or dance music for which the stringed instruments are omitted (like komagaku).

Contemporary gagaku ensembles, such as Reigakusha (伶楽舎), perform contemporary compositions for gagaku instruments. This sub-genre of contemporary works for gagaku instruments, which began in the 1960s, is called reigaku (伶楽). 20th century composers such as Tōru Takemitsu have composed works for gagaku ensemble, as well as individual gagaku instruments.

If you have a chance, check out a CD of Gagaku and enjoy!